Play Advance Wars 2: Black Hole Rising Online

Summary

Advance Wars 2: Black Hole Rising expands the beloved turn‑based formula with a handful of fresh twists that keep the GBA’s tactical engine feeling crisp. The campaign is no longer a straight line; each continent offers a hub of missions that unlock new battles as you meet hidden requirements, and a tougher Hard Campaign appears once the main story is cleared, reshuffling maps and starting units for extra challenge.

Nineteen commanding officers now lead the fight, eight of them new, and the roster is rounded out by a single fresh unit, the Neotank, which adds a heavier punch to the ground forces. New terrain features—Missile Silos that let infantry call in area‑damage strikes and Pipelines that act as impassable walls—reshape battlefield layouts, while the ominous Black Cannon appears in campaign maps as a destructible building with its own health bar.

The biggest mechanical upgrade is the Super CO Power, unlocked by filling the large stars on the revamped CO meter; using it drains the meter completely, forcing players to weigh frequent modest abilities against occasional game‑changing bursts. All of this content is gated behind the Battle Maps shop, where points earned in War Room, Versus, and multiplayer unlock new COs, palettes, and extra maps.

Critics praised the balance of familiarity and novelty, with GameSpot and IGN awarding Editor’s Choice and Euro‑centric awards naming it the year’s best handheld. Even though some reviewers called it a polished “mission pack,” the consensus was clear: any GBA owner should have Advance Wars 2 on their cartridge shelf.

Storyline

In *Advance Wars 2: Black Hole Rising* (often just called *Advance Wars 2*), the Black Hole Army rebounds quickly after its defeat in Cosmo Land and launches a massive invasion of Macro Land. Under the ruthless commander Sturm, four new COs are added to the original Black Hole roster: Flak targets Orange Star, Lash—who invented the Black Cannon and Mini Cannons—takes Blue Moon, the narcissistic Adder assaults Yellow Comet, and Hawke moves on Green Earth.

The Allied Nations—Orange Star, Blue Moon, Yellow Comet and Green Earth—must unite to drive the invaders from each continent. After clearing the territories, the Allied COs converge on Black Hole’s own base, where Sturm awaits behind the Death Ray, a powerful weapon protecting a missile that could destroy half of Wars World.

The Allied forces dismantle the Death Ray, disarm the missile and corner Sturm. In a desperate move, Sturm tries to trigger a self‑destruct, but Hawke betrays him, killing Sturm with a Black Storm attack. Hawke then assumes command of the remnants of Black Hole and retreats from Macro Land with Flak, Lash and Adder.